Call the Midwife

Season Four

"Now nearing the 1960s, the community enters a new time of social change, while stories of birth, life and death continue to touch your heart. Will live-wire Nurse Trixie marry her young curate? What new project calls for a heart as big as Chummy's? How will Sister Evangelina react to two new nurses? And why does Sister Julienne appear so unsettled by a mystery benefactor?"

Keeping in mind the times--when career paths for women were many times just nurse, secretary, teacher--this series shows a group of women patiently dispensing healthcare to some of the most vulnerable UK population. Their focus is on neo-natal/midwifery. Although it's 1960, WWII still has an effect in a traumatized doctor, middle-aged widows/widowers, and even a nun wondering about love again. The nuns and nurses themselves have distinct personalities and the plots are generally well-written with accurate medical diagnoses for the time period.

Not as good as the first 3 seasons, though the first couple of episodes keep up the pace and the quality very well. After that, the series gets preachy and politically correct, and loses its focus, failing to reflect the times as well as it had before. You can't get away with superimposing today's political climate onto those years, they don't fit, but perhaps the only people who might notice are people like me, who lived through the times in the UK. Only to be expected I guess with Vanessa Redgrave the commentating voice of the book's author, she frequently runs for the Communist Party in elections. Oh well, we enjoyed it while it lasted....

I love this historical drama with a great British sense of humor. While the screaming, pushing and silly bellies can get old, some zinger dialogue can be heard at all times. The midwife show reflects socio, eco, etc. changes in the world during the baby boom, which is coming to an end during Season Four.
The actors are all strong. We have quite a few characters to keep up with and care about this Season. I recommend starting with Season One.